Judiciary in need of more judges says Bart Katureebe
MUHAMAD MATOVU
The Chief Justice Bart Katureebe has noted that there is a shortage of judges in the country that has hampered the implementation of plea bargaining .
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Justice Katureebe explained that court of appeal has only 11 judges out of 15 judges required, the high court has only 50 judges despite the resolution that was passed by the parliament to increase the number to 82.
He also revealed that the lower courts still lack 56 chief Magistrates which is a big gap in the judicial system.
“We asked the government to give us more judges. I was giving you an example like the district of Arua which has one only Grade I magistrate who serves Amuru ad Nwoya district and there is a big distances apart,” he noted.
He noted that the plea bargaining process will help clear the case backlog.
He said when there are many people waiting for trial, it means someone who would have pleaded guilty and started serving a sentence will remain on the remand.
Katureebe said the plea bargaining process has helped to reduce on the number of people on remand.
“With plea bargaining,we are beginning to increase on more people who are convicted and less those who are on remand whereas previous we had more people on remand and less convicted," he noted.
